Happy Birthday, Inuyasha!
by BadLlama1114
Summary: Suprises! Suspense! Styrafoam...! What happens when Kagome decides to throw a suprise birthday party for Inuyasha? Traditional pairings, some fluff, and an overall heartwarming(if I do it right!) story of learning to love. R
1. Default Chapter

_From the author: Don't own Inuyasha. If I did, I'd be a much richer (and probably more fufilled) person today..._

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Chapter 1: Volitility

It was a beautiful, autumn day in the old village of the Feudal Era that Higurashi Kagome had been forced to make into her second home. But it was beautiful all the time here, compared to modern Tokyo. Well, according to her at any rate. There was a crisp bite to the air, hinting at the impending winter that was about to hit them all, but the leaves. Yes, it was the riot of color in the leaves that made it all worth it.

But beneath the pleasant evening facade, trouble was brewing. And it was brewing between Kagome and Inuyasha as had been the norm of late. Inuyasha had grown more moody and brooding, while Kagome had become rather tired of their immature arguments. After all, she'd matured a lot in the two-and-a-half years she'd been traveling with Inuyasha and the gang. However, she felt that she didn't know much more about Inuyasha than when she'd come through the well on her fifteenth birthday. But through time, she had found that she didn't know anything about Inuyasha because he didn't know that much about himself. What he did know, he kept closely to himself. Today, she'd found out once more how little the hanyou knew about his life and how protective he was about it.

Kagome stared in absolute and total incredulity at Inuyasha, her mouth gaping open almost to the point of hitting the floor. Sure, she had always wondered about it, but he really just didn't know!

"Inuyasha, you must be kidding. You don't even know WHEN your birthday is!"

Those golden eyes bored into her with an intensity that he had rarely shown as of late. It was one of those 'leave it alone' expressions. He usually didn't have to use it due to his total inaproachability, but Kagome had the strangest habit of being able to get underneath that cold, angry facade with incredible irritability. So what if he didn't know when his birthday was!

"What's it to you, wench!"

"Don't call me that, Inuyasha!"

"I wouldn't have to if you didn't act like one all of the-"

"OSUWARI!"

Kagome huffed out of Kaede's small little hut, her hands balled up into fists and her cheeks flushed with frustration, while the aforementioned hanyou was on the floor, a face full of wooden planking now keeping him company as opposed to Kagome.

Inuyasha had long since learned the futility of fighting against Kagome's "sit" command. He lay there for a moment, his cheeks flushed and a torrent of curses, insults, and jibes that he could use on her flying through his mind. But the scent in the room had changed. It was devoid of her. The scent that intoxicated him and on more than one occasion had threatened to throw him over the brink of self-control.

When she left like that, it hurt. He hurt. He hated feeling like that. After all, he was supposed to be this famous...Well, infamous was probably the more appropriate word, hanyou who had taken on Naraku and lived to tell the tale. But he was putty in the hands of a human. Or at least he was on the inside. After two years, he had steadily began losing control to her smile, her face, those beautiful brown eyes...He'd finally lost all resolve that one fateful night in Kaguya's castle.

He'd felt that small, slender body crying out to him as she kissed him on the lips. Her scent overwhelmed him. Her lips pressing against his had caused him to lose all coherent thought and he returned the kiss in kind. The feelings that she evoked in him threatened to overwhelm him even now...

He shook off the thoughts, now annoyed with the betrayal of his self-control. Inuyasha stood, stretching out, taking a sniff or two of the air. She was leaving, alright. And she was thoroughly mad at him.

_Why can't I just be...Normal!_

He shook his head in disgust, wanting nothing more than to run to Kagome and tell her he was sorry...Tell her that he wanted her to be happy...To hug her...To _kiss_ her...

_Baka, _he thought to himself, _keep thinking like that and she'll sit me for sure._

Kagome fumed as she walked towards the Bone Eater's Well, thoroughly frustrated with Inuyasha again. It had become so common that Kagome didn't expect to go through the well anymore without a major fight ensuing between them. Each argument, each insult, each yelling contest was burned firmly in her memory and they all hurt her now as much as they had when they occurred.

_Why can't he just learn to be...NORMAL!_

_But he isn't...That's what you love about him most and you know it. Get a grip, girl._

She sighed and shook her head in annoyance. Now she was arguing with herself. Just great. This man has affected her in more than one way. If she didn't find a way to purify the jewel soon, the hanyou was going to give her a heart attack or nervous breakdown soon.

Her goal had been attained as she trod down the path to the well. She sat on the wooden railing, taking one last look at the place that she had grown to love before sliding off of her perch, making her way back to her own time..._To where I belong..._

Kagome never did see the molten-gold eyes following her...Never did hear as he flew from one branch to the other as her guardian kept an eye on her, making sure she was safe. Unseen in the darkness of the canopy of trees, a tear gathered in his eye...Gathered and trickled down his cheek.

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_Alright, so this is my first attempt at a fanfiction. I know its pretty simple in the way of a plotline, but they'll get more complex once I get more familiar with the characters I'm trying to portray. I'd greatly appreciate any creative or constructive criticisim. Flames will probably be ignored outright. But thanks again!_


	2. Plotting and Pouting

Chapter 2: Planning and Pouting

Kagome sat on the floor of her bedroom, running through catalogue pages so fast that her eyes seemed nothing more than a blur. Despite their big fight, she still wanted to throw Inuyasha a birthday party. There were some cute things in the several magazines that she had perused over the past two days that she'd been back home, but "cute" wasn't an adjective that was used to describe Inuyasha very often.

_Not like he'll be grateful. He'll probably make fun of you for being such a girl,_ said that small, all-too-truthful voice in her head that tended to give her migraines and suffer from self-doubt when she listened to it.

Kagome riffled through the magazine half-heartedly. There was nothing in here that she wanted to give him...Nothing that was _good_ enough for him. There were the standard presents for guys: baseball caps, watches, sports-related items, tools, car stuff, and she'd even considered on one or two occasions giving him the now-dormant Shikon no Tama, but she thought that may be cruel. It'd just remind him on how she'd "wasted her wish," and how he hadn't been able to become full-demon in the end anyway.

But the more she was around him lately, the less he seemed to want to become a full demon. She didn't know what had evoked this change within him, but after seeing some of the atrocities that had been performed against Naraku's victims, he seemed to be less occupied with his own wants and become more concerned for the welfare of others. He didn't even ask how she had purified the jewel. He just made the occasional snide allusion to the fact that not much had changed since she had purified it when he was fairly annoyed with her.

Wasn't _that_ a change. In the beginning, Inuyasha had tried to kill her outright to retrieve the Sacred Jewel from her and was only stopped by Kaede's rather quick thinking when she forced the prayer beads around his neck.

Thank god for "osuwari."

Kagome sighed, tossed the magazine across the room where it collided with the wall, and stood. She stretched her sore muscles and yawned, working out the kinks in her back and legs. She hadn't realized that she had been sitting there for the past four hours and now her body was letting her know quite obnoxiously. Perhaps she was getting arthritis in her old age.

She crossed the distance between her little nest and her bed in a few steps and sat down on the comfortable, rather pliant surface. That was one thing that she liked most about the modern age. Her bed. When she spent more time in the feudal era than her own, she used to think quite fondly of her little bed in her little room. A sleeping bed on the hard earthen floor of the great outdoors somehow just didn't quite compare in comfort levels.

But Inuyasha was there. He more than made up for that.

She drew a deep sigh. _Don't even start thinking about him. He's just your friend and you know he'll never see you as anything more than that,_ said that small, annoying voice once again. What made it worse was she knew it. Kagome had seen the look on Inuyasha's face as Kikyou drew her last breaths in this world, heard his pleas for her to stay, and even saw the tears glide their silvery paths down his tawny cheeks.

Kagome lay down and closed her eyes against the dimness of her room, thinking of Inuyasha in her mind's eye. Slowly, she began to drift off into sleep, with the amber eyes of that young hanyou flitting throughout her mind as her consciousness dripped away like sand in an hourglass...

After Kagome had vanished through the well, Inuyasha had jumped down from the tree in a rather foul mood. The skies were cloudy and ominous, which suited his general feelings towards life quite grandly. He was genuinely frustrated at his inability to keep his temper in check when he was around Kagome. He tried to tell her how he felt, he really did. But his annoyance with his inability to do so welled up in him each time and he inadvertently took it out on Kagome, who in turn caused him to grab a face full of dirt or whatever surface he happened to be standing on at the time.

Before he knew it, his feet had carried him back down the path to the little village, and with his scowl firmly in place, he made his way towards Kaede's hut. The old woman wasn't there and strangely enough, he had a feeling that he wanted to talk to her about it. But Miroku and Sango were. Damnit.

Ever since Miroku had asked Sango to bear his children, the two had been intolerable. Or perhaps obnoxious would be a better way to describe them. Granted, he cared for the demon-slayer and monk quite a bit more than he'd ever admit to anyone, but they were all over each other as of late and Miroku wasn't getting slapped nearly as often as he had been. For a time, Inuyasha was rather sure that Miroku's cheeks would have a ruddy patch on them forever after Sango got done with him.

The monk spied him first and smiled in welcome, but was cut off with a rather nasty glare from Inuyasha. Miroku's expression darkened considerably and he stood, clutching his staff.

"Inuyasha, Sango and I have been meaning to talk to you for a while about Kagome."

Inuyasha glared vehemently at the monk, but chose to say nothing. He merely sat down on the wood planking in front of the fire and waited for the monk to continue, looking every bit as menacing as usual.

Miroku had never been afraid of Inuyasha and still wasn't to this day. "Listen. You know Kagome cares about you a great deal. So do we," he cast a wary look to Sango who was sitting beside him, hanging on his every word, "and the both of us know how you feel about her, regardless of what she thinks. But it'd be nice if you'd just quit being such a creep about it."

Inuyasha was taken aback momentarily, but leaned forward adopting his best 'don't-mess-with-me' expression. "I wasn't aware that me and Kagome were any of your business, lecher. Stay out of it."

"Listen, Inuyasha," Miroku stopped, as though he wanted nothing more than to stop this conversation and it hadn't been his idea in the first place, but Sango elbowed him from behind and he continued hesitantly. "I'm not threatening you or telling you how to live your life. But just know that Kagome's purpose here has ended. She has purified the Shikon no Tama and we have defeated Naraku. She doesn't have to come back anymore and if you keep being so wretched to her, she might stop completely."

Inuyasha had taken off the Tetsusaiga and it now leaned against his shoulder. His arms were crossed defiantly over his chest and his ears twitched in annoyance. His mulish expression indicated that he had stopped being reasonable as soon as Miroku had started talking. "You think I don't know that, Miroku? If she weren't such a stupid wench all of the time, I wouldn't have to be like that--"

Hearing Inuyasha's slur against her friend, Sango stood up, as fiery and protective of Kagome as ever. "Listen here, you baka. Kagome has always been there for you, me, everyone here. Don't you DARE insult her. She's a wonderful person and shouldn't have to put up with--"

"What are you saying, Sango, that I'm being a bastard to her?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Inuyasha. Just because you can't tell her that you love her---"

"What makes you think I love that scrawny excuse for a human--!"

"Because you do. Its that simple." The finality to Sango's tone rang through the now silent shack. "I don't know when it was that you fell in love with her, but you did. And she you. I've seen the way you look after her when you think no one's watching. But that's not the point. You have to TELL her or you'll never see her again! And if you can't tell her, just quit being so foul to her. I'm halfway sure that she'd appreciate that gesture just as much, maybe even more."

Inuyasha's nostrils flared and his eyes widened. He got to his feet, a slew of insults to yell at Sango rising to the front of his mind, but none of them working their way out of his mouth. With a defeated look, his ears flattened against his head and he looked down at the ground, flushing.

"I know you need time to figure this out, Inuyasha. But time is running out." Sango sighed and walked over to the defeated hanyou. She put a hand on his shoulder, squeezed it gently, and muttered "If you need any help...Even just to talk, be sure to ask." With that, she walked out of the door. Miroku shot him one of those 'What can you do?' expressions and slunk out behind her, leaving Inuyasha alone, once again, to mull over his thoughts.


End file.
